Hello, my pretties! Boy, have I been looking forward to writing this chapter! Just a warning; this is Faba's "I Hate You, I Love You" moment, so there will be more f-bombs than usual. Also, don't expect a full catfight scene. I already did that in The Prince, the Green Girl, and the Phantom as well as in Dangerous, so yeah.

Enjoy!

Chapter 20

Faba

The first thing Faba noticed when she woke up was that there was something heavy around her body. She smiled as she remembered what had happened the night before. Trying not to wake him, Faba carefully extricated herself out of Fiyero's arms. She dressed quickly, and then went to go pick some berries for breakfast.

When Faba returned to where they had slept, she found Fiyero just starting to get dressed. He grinned when he saw her. "Hey, Fae."

"Hey. Look, I have breakfast. You hungry?"

"I'm always hungry!" He took some berries from her eagerly, and she just rolled her eyes.

As they ate, a guilty thought occurred to Faba. "I just wish …" she began with a sigh. No. It was too stupid to even say aloud.

Intrigued, Fiyero stopped chewing. "What?"

Faba sighed again. "I wish … I could be beautiful for you." Ugh. She sounded hopeless.

"Now, Faba …" Fiyero protested.

She held up her hand to silence him. "No, don't tell me that I am! Be logical about it. You don't have to lie to me."

"It's not lying!" he insisted, grinning at her. "It's just looking at things another way."

Faba was silent for a moment, touched by his words. "Really?"

"By the blessed Fairy Queen Lurline. And someday, you and Glinda will make up. You two have too much common history to come apart over little old-…"

"Shh!" Faba suddenly exclaimed. "Do you hear that?" It was a very eerie sound coming from the east, a sound she couldn't quite place.

Fiyero was confused. "No. What are you talking about?"

"It sounds like … someone in pain," she decided. Then, Faba saw something so shocking that she could not resist saying, "Holy shit!"

"What?" Fiyero asked, getting even more baffled by the second. "What do you see?"

Oz, he was going to think she was crazy. "It doesn't make any sense! It's a … house! But it's flying through the sky!" Then, she was struck by another realization. "I have to go to Nessa!"

"Whoa! Nessa?! Your sister?"

"No, my crazy identical twin from Ix. OF COURSE MY SISTER!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. Let's go see your sister."

Faba shook her head. "No. You can't come with me. It's too dangerous!" She hastily put on her hat and grabbed her broom.

"WAIT!" Fiyero called. She turned back expectantly. "My family has a castle, Kiamo Ko. No one lives there except some sentries who watch over it. I think you'll be pretty safe there."

"Alright …" But then Faba thought of something. "But … where do you live?"

"The other castle."

"Oh. Naturally." Solemnly, she looked into those perfectly blue eyes that could reduce her to nothingness. "Will we see each other again?"

Fiyero chuckled. "Faba, we will be together always. If you can see houses that fly through the sky …" Oz, he was so sappy. After one last quick kiss, she was off again, determined to save her sister.

But she didn't. Faba came upon Nest Hardings, the capital of Munchkinland, in uproarious celebration. She soon discovered that a house had fallen and killed her sister, and that the girl inside the house, Dora or something like that, was being hailed as a heroine by the Munchkins and welcomed by Glinda. Glinda had also taken it upon herself to give the little brat Nessa's shoes! Of course, Faba tried to get them back, but between Glinda's smugness and the girl's utter terror of Faba, this was a failed mission. For now.

After the celebrations died down, and the girl was on her foolish way to see the Wizard, Faba and Glinda had a confrontation. For Faba, it almost felt good to give Glinda a piece of her mind about the way she went with the Wizard's regime. But then, Glinda HAD to say, "Well, a lot of us are taking things that don't belong to us, aren't we?"

Faba's nostrils flared. "Now, you wait just a tick tock. I know it's hard for that blissful, blonde brain of yours to comprehend that someone like him could actually CHOOSE someone like me. But it's happened. It's real. And you can wave that stupid ass wand of yours all you want, blondie, but you can't change it! He never belonged to you. He doesn't love you, and he never did. He loves ME!"

"Fuck you!" Faba let her guard down too quickly, so she was thoroughly shocked when Glinda's hand came into contact with her face. The shock of the slap stunned Faba more than the pain. But she soon got over that shock when she realized just how ridiculous the whole situation was. So much to Glinda's annoyance and confusion, Faba laughed the hardest she had laughed in a long time.

"Feel better?" she asked Glinda once she had composed herself again.

"Yes, I do."

"Good." Impulsively, Faba returned the slap. "Now so do I!" What happened next was, in Faba's hindsight, very immature. She and Glinda engaged in a catfight of sorts, first using their respective broom and wand as weapons, and then simply tackling each other. Faba was surprised at Glinda's strength, and was nearly suffocating when they heard a voice.

"Halt! In the name of the Wizard!" Faba and Glinda were separated by what Faba quickly realized was the Gale Force.

"Sorry it took so long to get here, miss," one of them told Glinda, who was now free. That's when it at clicked for Faba.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe you would sink this low! To use my sister's death as a trap to capture me?!"

However, anything Glinda could've said to defend herself was interrupted by: "Hey! Let the green girl go!" Oh, sweet mother of Oz. Fiyero, swinging on a vine and coming to her rescue.

"Idiot!" Faba muttered under her breath.

"I said let her go!" Fiyero demanded again. "Or explain to all of Oz how the Gale Force watched as Glinda the Good was slain." Both girls were very alarmed when he pointed a gun at Glinda's head.

Glinda was almost in tears. "Fiyero …"

But then, Faba was astonished to find that the soldiers actually let her go. With his rifle still in hand, Fiyero gave her back her hat, which had been thrown off during her fight with Glinda. He also retrieved her broom. "Faba, go. Now!"

"What?! No, not without you!" She knew perfectly well what would happen as soon as she left.

"Hush! Now, go!"

She could not believe his stubbornness. "I hate you!" Faba screamed at Fiyero.

"I know," he said calmly.

"I love you."

"I know."

"Don't do this!"

He gave her a look. "Faba …"

She sighed. "I know."

"Don't worry about me," Fiyero insisted. "You just get the hell out of here. I'll try to catch up to you."

"Oh sweet Oz, how I hate you!" Faba shrieked. "Please don't do this! You're going to get yourself killed, and I love you. But go on and die! Whatever! I survived for almost two years without you, you know!"

Fiyero moved toward her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Fae …"

She pulled back. "Don't touch me! I hate you! And I'll get on without you! I'm tough and resourceful; I had to be as a fugitive. But now I'm freaking the fuck out, Ozdammit! So, screw you!" She walked about two feet down the Yellow Brick Road before she had second thoughts. After all, she didn't want his last memory of her to be her screaming at him. "Wait, no!"

The Gale Force soldiers watched as the Witch rushed back into the cornfield and tackled her lover into a hug. For a second, they wondered how bad she could really be if this was how she treated the ones she loved. But as she flew away on her broomstick, Madam Morrible's strict orders came back into their minds.

"Seize him!" the leader commanded. Faba wasn't yet far enough away to hear that, as well as Glinda's protests. She closed her eyes, as if to block out the sound.

In my life, I've always said I don't need anyone.

I like a life, and I love you.

And I swore I would live without wanting or needing you.

But it's too late;

I need you too!

You're the reason I think this life might not be meaningless.

You're my North Star, my map to grace.

You're my single best decision in a life of many awful ones,

My one big yes, my one embrace.

With you, I never feel I'm out of place …

When she got to Kiamo Ko, Faba was surprised to find that Chistery and the other monkeys were waiting for her. But she spent little time dwelling on that. As she had done in every crisis before, she opened the Grimmerie, in search of a spell. But this was no love child impeding her career. This was no sister and her boyfriend in a scrape. This was the very second half of her soul (though 24 hours earlier, Faba would have scoffed at the notion), and he was dead or bleeding because of her.

"Elika nahmen nahmen atum atum elika nahmen. Elika nahmen nahmen atum atum elika nahmen." She said the silly words, not knowing what the hell they meant and not caring. There was only a slim chance that this could work.

After a shower and quick dinner, Faba unpacked her few possessions. She set her portable radio on the table in her new room and turned it on. But instead of hearing the classical music she was accustomed to, Faba heard this: "We interrupt this broadcast to inform you of a great tragedy that occurred today. Prince Fiyero Tigulaar, Captain of the Gale Force and fiancé to Glinda the Good, has gone missing and is presumed dead. Secretary Morrible has deduced that the Wicked Witch of the West was probably involved with this …"

Faba slammed down on the radio to turn it off. This was completely his fault! If he hadn't been so stupid and brave … How could he?! "I LOVED YOU, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" She stood up and violently kicked the chair she had been sitting in. Right. It was "lovED," not "love." There was no more love for her now. It was her fault too; she had lost him …

Suddenly, a voice came from the open doorway. "Faba?"

I don't think you'll have any trouble guessing who that is. ;)

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Elle Dottore